The invention relates to a washware carrier, in particular a crockery basket or a cutlery drawer, for the accommodation of washware to be washed in a dishwasher, with a base portion on which are arranged, in a row, a multiplicity of retainers for the washware. The invention further relates to a dishwasher with a washware carrier.
Washware carriers for the accommodation of washware for use in dishwashers, in particular household dishwashers, are generally known. A distinction is here frequently drawn between crockery baskets, which essentially serve to accommodate items of crockery, such as plates, cups, glasses etc., and cutlery drawers, which essentially serve to accommodate items of cutlery, such as knives, forks and spoons. An important objective in the design of such washware carriers, regardless of whether they are crockery baskets or cutlery drawers, is to afford the user the maximum flexibility when loading the washware carrier. Thus subject to optimal utilization of the available space, it should be possible to load items of crockery or items of cutlery of various dimensions, e.g. plates and dishes of different depths or knives with handles of different widths, into the washware carrier in a convenient manner. A series of proposals have been advanced for the creation of this flexibility.
Thus for example a crockery basket for the accommodation of a multiplicity of different items of crockery is known from DE 10 2004 035 726 A1, which has a rake-like retaining device made up of a multiplicity of spines. In order to increase the flexibility of the crockery basket the spines can be swung between various pivot positions, wherein the retaining device is made up of at least two folding rows of spines, which can be swung between the different pivot positions independently of each other. According to one embodiment it is also provided for the spines of a folding row of spines to be cranked, so that the spines of all folding rows of spines in a first pivot position come to rest along an axis of rotation in one line and orientation. The spines of each of the folding rows of spines can here be arranged alternately at the same distance from each other. If a retaining device then has precisely two folding rows of spines, then in a second pivot position the distance between two successive spines can be doubled compared with the first pivot position. However this solution is relatively costly from the perspective of design engineering and production technology and additionally requires a relatively large amount of installation space.